Welcome to the weekly update from the Campaign to End Qualified Immunity! Here, we give you a wrap-up of the latest developments and notable news as we continue our state-focused fight to abolish the unjust rule.
This week, Popular Science explains how police brutality impacts public health; Ben and Jerry rally for police accountability in Vermont; civil rights activists resist aggressive policing in Mississippi; and more!
FEATURED STORY
Popular Science: Police Brutality Is an Unaddressed Public Health Crisis in America
“Sirry Alang, an associate professor of Black Communities & the Social Determinants of Health at the University of Pittsburgh School of Education, says police brutality must be considered a public health crisis. ‘Police brutality literally kills people. It causes death and disability and it shifts relationships with healthcare providers that make people less likely to seek care.’”
Read more here.
WASHINGTON
Lawmakers and activists are expressing support for the new bill making its way through the Washington Legislature that would end qualified immunity. “We must expect our law enforcement officers to uphold the Washington State Constitution,” said Sonia Joseph from the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability, whose son, Giovonn Joseph-McDade, was killed by police in 2017.
Read more here.
NEW YORK
Recent data on the NYPD’s use of vehicle stops shows that police pulled over more than 670,000 drivers in 2022—and about 90 percent of them were people of color. “It’s quite clear that Black and Latino drivers are being singled out for the most aggressive police activity,” said the ACLU of New York’s Christopher Dunn. “That’s a source of a lot of concern.”
Read more here.
“This was a pre-planned assault on peaceful protesters and the magnitude of the award reflects the real damage that the NYPD did to this community.” The NYPD’s violent tactics during 2020 racial justice protests could cost New York City up to $6 million, reveals a new report.
Read more here.
23-year-old Tawheed Brennen has filed a million-dollar-lawsuit against the Nassau County Police Dept. after one of its detectives brutally assaulted him for no reason in April 2022. “I think they were profiling me as a young African American,” said Brennen, “because in all honesty I feel like if I was a young caucasian male, this wouldn’t have happened to me.”
Read more here.
VERMONT
Last week, Campaign to End Qualified Immunity co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield held an event at Burlington’s Town Hall in support of a ballot item that would establish a police oversight board, which they see “as an example…of what police accountability could look like.”
Read more here.
MARYLAND
Police interactions instigated solely by the scent of marijuana are completely unacceptable, states the ACLU of Maryland. This questionable practice “is routinely used to infringe on individuals’ right to privacy, which allows the police to justify racial profiling.”
Read more here.
ADDITIONAL NEWS
NBC News: Mississippi Wants to Expand an Aggressive Police Force Responsible for Recent Shootings
“‘We do not need rogue, renegade cops patrolling the streets of Jackson,’ Danyelle Holmes, an organizer with the Poor People’s Campaign, said at a Feb. 14 forum at Mt. Helm, the oldest Black church in Jackson, where dozens of residents gathered in resistance to the legislation.”
Read more here.
The Washington Post: Fatal Police Shootings Are Still Going Up, and Nobody Knows Why
“Some experts point to a rise in gun purchases across the country as one factor. Others blame the slow pace of reform in use-of-force policies and the challenge of holding officers accused of excessive force accountable.”
Read more here.
Buzzfeed News: A Man Is Suing the Police Officers Charged With Killing Tyre Nichols for Allegedly Beating Him Just Three Days Earlier
“‘It was really scary,’ [Monterrious] Harris told FOX13. ‘It was just even more terrifying that days later I found out that these same guys who beat me up turned around and killed [Tyre Nichols].’”
Read more here.
Sahan Journal: Hmong Community Members Demand Police Reform While Mourning the Killing of Yia Xiong
“‘Yia was basically hunted down. He was hunted down like an animal, given no opportunity to respond,’ [Ramsey County Commissioner] Mai Chong Xiong said. ‘He could’ve been your mom or your dad—your loved one. So, we have to think about safety, what safety truly is.’”
Read more here.
Forbes: Court Rejects Immunity for Police Who Held 83-Year-Old Grandmother at Gunpoint
“But even after officers confirmed that [Elise] Brown wasn’t armed or any type of threat, they still ordered Brown to get on her knees and threw her in handcuffs. Only afterwards did the officers realize that there was a mistake with the stolen vehicle reporting and released Brown.”
Read more here.
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